Golf tee and method of producing a golf tee

ABSTRACT

A golf tee  100  for supporting a golf ball  300  is disclosed herein. In a preferred embodiment, the golf tee  100  comprises a stem section  102  insertable to the ground  200  and a head section  104  for supporting the golf ball  300  and arranged to be releasably attached to the stem section  102 . A connection member  106  is configured to tie the stem section to the head section and which enables the head section  104  to be detached from stem section  102 . In this way, when the head section  104  is struck by a golf club and becomes detached from the stem section  102 , the connection member  106  prevents the head section  104  from being separated from the stem section  102 . Since the stem section  102  is likely to be planted into the ground, this reduces the chance of sending the golf tee  100  flying and thus, there is no need to spend time searching for the golf tee  100 . A method of producing a golf tee is also disclosed.

This is a divisional of application Ser. No. 12/995,623 filed Dec. 1,2010, which is a national stage of PCT/SG2009/000188 filed May 28, 2009,which claims priority from Singapore Application No. 200804360-6 filedJun. 2, 2008 the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND AND FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a golf tee, as well as a method of producing agolf tee.

In a game of golf, it is common to begin a first stroke of each hole atthe “teeing ground” and a golf tee is normally used to “tee off”. Aconventional golf tee is usually made of wood or plastic and has a headfor a golf ball to rest on and a connecting stem that is pointed at oneend for inserting into the ground. The golf tee is then positioned sothat the golf ball, when supported by the head of the golf tee, issubstantially on the same level as the ground/grass surface. The head ofthe golf tee is thus usually above the ground and quite often, part ofthe connecting stem too since depending on which type of golf club(“irons” or “woods”) used to tee off, the height of the golf ballrelative to the ground needs to be adjusted higher by adjusting thedepth of penetration of the golf tee into the ground.

When a golfer swings a golf club to hit the golf ball, more often thannot the swing would also hit the golf tee sending the golf tee flying.It is usual to track the flight of the golf ball but not where the golftee went and thus, often time is wasted searching for the golf tee whichdelays the game. Further, if the golf club also hits exposed area of thegolf tee, it is not uncommon for the exposed area to be broken and thegolf tee has to be replaced. For these reasons, golfers tend to carry anumber of golf tees for each game of golf.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a golf tee toaddress at least one of the above prior art problems and/or to providethe public with a useful choice.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a golf teecomprising a stem section insertable to the ground;

a head section for supporting a golf ball and arranged to be releasablyattached to the stem section.

To use the golf tee of the preferred embodiment, the stem section isinserted into the ground with the head section exposed. Since the headsection is releasably attached to the stem section, when hit by a golfclub, the head section is adapted to be detached from the stem sectionso that the head section follows the swing of the golf club. In thisway, this reduces breakage of the golf tee. Further, different lengths(or heights) of the head section may be used and attached to the stemsection so that the golf tee can be used to support a golf ball atdifferent heights relative to the ground or grass. Further, with thehead section removed, the stem section may be used as a “short tee”.

Preferably, the golf tee comprises a connection member configured to tiethe stem section to the head section and which enables the head sectionto be detached from stem section. In this way, when the head section isstruck by a golf club and becomes detached from the stem section, theconnection member prevents the head section from being separated fromthe stem section. Since the stem section is likely to be planted intothe ground, this reduces the chance of sending the golf tee flying andthus, there is no need to spend time searching for the golf tee.

Preferably, the connection member is arranged to be connected toexternal walls of the stem section and the head section. This isadvantageous since the entire golf tee may then be produced as anunitary structure and using a single process, such as injection molding.

The head section may comprise a plurality of mutually spaced fingers forsupporting a golf ball. Other arrangements of the fingers are envisagedas long as they are suitable for supporting a golf ball and likewise,other support surface may be possible.

Preferably, the golf tee is made of nylon. As explained earlier, thegolf tee may be integrally formed from processes such as injection orblow molding extrusion. In fact, this forms a different aspect of theinvention which relates to a method of producing a golf tee comprising,after injection or blow molding to produce a molded golf tee, annealingthe molded golf tee in an annealing medium at a temperature of at least60° C. for at least 2 hours. In this way, it enhances the pliability ofthe golf tee and also, the strength of the golf tee to withstand theblows of a gold club. Of course, this method may be used to produce thegolf tee of the first aspect.

Preferably, the annealing medium is water and the temperature ispreferably between 60° C. and 80° C. Another suitable annealing mediumis oil and other suitable annealing mediums may be used. Preferably,annealing time is from 2 hours up to 10 hours.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

An embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example,with reference to the accompanying drawings in which,

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a golf tee having a head section, a stemsection and a connection member according to a preferred embodiment ofthe invention;

FIG. 2 is a top view of the golf tee of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is another view of the golf tee of FIG. 1 with the head sectiondetached from the stem section;

FIG. 4 illustrates how the golf tee of FIG. 1 is used to support a golfball;

FIG. 5 illustrates how the head section is detached from the stemsection when struck by a golf club; and

FIG. 6 shows the golf tee of FIG. 1 with the head section removed andthe stem section being used to support a golf ball directly.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIG. 1 is a golf tee 100 according to a preferred embodiment of theinvention and is made from nylon. The golf tee 100 includes a stemsection 102 and a head section 104 releasably attached to the stemsection 102. The golf tee 100 also includes a flexible connection member106 arranged to tie the stem section 102 and the head section 104.

The stem section 102 has a tapered cylindrical body 108 with a pointedend 110 to facilitate insertion of the golf tee 100 into the ground(which may have grass). At the other end of the stem section 102 is amating portion 112 which is generally circular and a circular engagementportion 114 is provided on the mating portion 112. The circularengagement portion 114 is shown in FIG. 3 which illustrates the headsection 104 detached from the stem section 102 and the circularengagement portion 114 has a relatively flat top surface 114 a.

The head section 104 has a generally cylindrical body 116 that is hollowso that the head section 104 is lighter. At an end of the head section104 nearest to the stem section 102 is a hollow mating portion 118 whichcooperates with the circular engagement portion 114 to enable the headsection 104 to be frictionally attached to the stem section 102. At theother end of the head section 104 is a plurality of mutually spaced andradially projecting fingers 120. FIG. 2 is a top view of the golf tee100 showing a clearer view of the fingers 120.

The connection member 106 of the golf tee 100 is flexible and its lengthis configured to allow the head section 104 to be freed or detached fromthe stem section 102. The flexibility and pliability of the connectionmember 106 is necessary to withstand the force of a golf club hittingthe head section 104, enabling the head section 104 to be detached fromthe stem section 102 and still maintaining the connection with both thehead section 104 and the stem section 102 while being able to allow thehead section 104 to be re-attached to the stem section 102.

In this embodiment, the golf tee 100 is integrally formed by conventioninjection molded process, and then followed by an annealing process.With the connection member 106 attached to the head section 104 and stemsection 102 externally, this allows the golf tee 100 to be produced by asingle injection molding process. During the annealing process, themolded golf tee 100 is submerged in hot water at a temperature of atleast 60° C. for at least two hours. This is to increase the pliabilityof the structure of the golf tee 100 in particular the connection member106. It is preferred for the annealing temperature to be between 60° C.and 80° C. and the time from at least two hours up to ten hours.

To use the golf tee 100, the head section 104 is attached to the stemsection 102 and the stem section 102 of the golf tee 100 is fully orpartially inserted into the ground 200 depending on how high the golfball is to be raised above the ground 200. This is illustrated in FIG.4. A golf ball 300 is then placed on the top of the golf tee 100 assupported by the plurality of fingers 120. It should be noted that ifthe direction of the swing of the golf club (not shown) to hit the golfball is in the direction X, the golf tee 100 should be positioned sothat the connection member 106 faces away from and along the directionof the swing X, as is shown in FIG. 4. In this way, as the golf clubstrikes the golf ball 300 and/or the head section 104 (withfollow-through swing of the golf club shown as direction Y in FIG. 5),the force detaches the head section 104 from the stem section 102 asshown in FIG. 5 and reduces damage to the connection member 106. Theconnection member 106 thus helps to reduce the chance of the headsection 104 flying off since the stem section 102 being planted into theground would restrict the movement of the connection member 106.Therefore, it is unlikely that the golf tee 100 would go missing andthis reduces the need to search for it and delaying the game. Theconfiguration of the golf tee and also the nylon material reduces thepossibility of breaking the golf tee 100 when it is struck by a golfclub.

The described embodiment should not be construed as limitative. Forexample, the plurality of fingers 120 for supporting a golf ball may bereplaced by a conventional slightly concave support (i.e. dish-shapedsupporting surface) adapted to support a golf ball. Also, the connectionmember 106 is not absolutely necessary since it is envisaged that avariation is for the head section 104 to be replaceable by another headsection, for example which has a longer body in order to raise the golfball higher above the ground when teeing off. Thus, differentlengths/heights of the head section 104 may be manufactured to adapt todifferent playing requirements and a selected head section 104 is thenattached to the stem section 102 when desired. Further, the head section104 may be removed (for example, when damaged), and the stems section102 may be used as a “short tee”, as shown in FIG. 6. In this case, itmay be preferred to configure the engagement portion 114 to have aslightly concave top surface 114 a to facilitate support of a golf ball.

Instead of nylon, other suitable material may be used. Also, other thaninjection molding, blow molding may be used to make the golf tee 100 ofthe present invention. Of course, other suitable techniques may be usedtoo. Instead of using water as the annealing medium, other suitableannealing mediums may be used, such as oil and the annealing temperatureand time period are adjusted accordingly, if necessary.

Having now fully described the invention, it should be apparent to oneof ordinary skill in the art that many modifications can be made heretowithout departing from the scope as claimed.

1. A golf tee comprising a stem section insertable to the ground; a headsection for supporting a golf ball and arranged to be releasablyattached to the stem section, wherein the stem section includes anengagement portion to which the head section is releasably attachableand which is also for supporting a golf ball when the head section isunattached to the stem section; wherein the golf tee is integrallyformed as an unitary item from one material in a single molding step. 2.A golf tee according to claim 1, further comprising a connection memberconfigured to tie the stem section to the head section and which enablesthe head section to be detached from stem section.
 3. A golf teeaccording to claim 2, wherein the connection member is arranged to beconnected to external walls of the stem section and the head section. 4.A golf tee according to claim 1 wherein the head section furthercomprises a plurality of mutually spaced fingers for supporting a golfball.
 5. A golf tee according to claim 1, wherein the golf tee is madeof nylon.